Atacama Desert @ National Geographic Magazine By Priit J. Vesilind Photographs by Joel Sartore Parts of Chile's Atacama Desert haven't seen a drop of rain since recordkeeping began. Somehow, more than a million people squeeze life from this parched land. Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt. Stretching 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from Peru's southern border into northern Chile, the Atacama Desert rises from a thin coastal shelf to the pampasvirtually lifeless plains that dip down to river gorges layered with mineral sediments from the Andes. The pampas bevel up to the altiplano, the foothills of the Andes, where alluvial salt pans give way to lofty white-capped volcanoes that march along the continental divide, reaching 20,000 feet (6,000 meters). At its center, a place climatologists call absolute desert, the Atacama is known as the driest place on Earth. There are sterile, intimidating stretches where rain has never been recorded, at least as long as humans have measured it.

You won't see a blade of grass or cactus stump, not a lizard, not a gnat. But you will see the remains of most everything left behind. The desert may be a heartless killer, but it's a sympathetic conservator. Without moisture, nothing rots. Everything turns into artifacts. Even little children. It is a shock then to learn that more than a million people live in the Atacama today. They crowd into coastal cities, mining compounds, fishing villages, and oasis towns. International teams of astronomersperched in observatories on the Atacama's coastal rangeprobe the cosmos through perfectly clear skies. Determined farmers in the far north grow olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers with drip-irrigation systems, culling scarce water from aquifers. In the altiplano, the descendants of the region's pre-Columbian natives (mostly Aymara and Atacama Indians) herd llamas and alpacas and grow crops with water from snowmelt streams. Get the whole story in the pages of National Geographic magazine. Rescued from the cutting room floor is this month's Final Edit, an image of a baby viscacha stretching from tail to toes.

In More to Explore the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information. Special thanks to the Research Division. Along much of the coast of northern Chile, rainfall is so scarce that remote communities long had to import water by truckan expensive and inefficient processin order to survive. Finally, however, some coastal residents discovered how to make use of the one form of precipitation they get plenty of: fog. Although rain rarely falls on the Atacama's coastline, a dense fog known as camanchaca is abundant. The fog nourishes plant communities called lomas, isolated islands of vegetation that can contain a wide variety of species, from cactuses to ferns. In the village of Chungungo, human residents now take advantage of the same camanchaca that their botanical neighbors have so successfully exploited. Thanks to Canada's International Development Research Centre and the Canadian Embassy in Santiago, a decade ago the villagers began to gather water using an ingenious system of nets that catch the fog as it rolls over the mountains above their homes. Constructed from a very fine mesh, the nets hang vertically above a series of troughs.

As the fog condenses on the nets' surfaces, moisture drips into troughs; pipes then carry the water down to the village. Residents of Chungungo can now take pride in their gardens; they can shower daily. The fog-catchers supply the village with an average of 2,600 gallons (10,000 liters) of water every day. The success of the Chilean fog-catchers has inspired people in countries such as Peru, Ecuador, South Africa, and Namibia to develop similar systems for their arid-land homes. For more information on the innovative art of fog-catching, go to . Robin A. Palmer In April 2003 an international team of scientistsmostly from NASA and Carnegie Mellon Universitytraveled to the Atacama Desert to begin field research for a new rover vehicle that will eventually search for signs of life on other planets. Read day-by-day accounts of the expedition and learn more about the emerging science of astrobiology.

Tourism Promotion Corporation of Chile: Atacama and Altiplano Driest Desert | Atacama Desert, Chile Driest Place: Atacama Desert, Chile Even the Driest Place on Earth has Water These incredibly dry mountains see an average of less than .004 inches/.01cm of rain per year. Many times this area will go without rainfall at all for years. Some places in the Atacama Desert have not had rainfall for over 400 years. The Atacama desert is found along the coast of Chile, South America - right next to the Pacific Ocean - the biggest body of water in the world. Much of the desert extends up into the Andes mountains and is very high in elevation. Unlike more familiar deserts, like the Sahara desert in Africa and the Mojave in California, the Atacama is actually a pretty cold place, with average daily temperatures ranging between 0°C and 25°C. The annual rainfall (or lack of it) defines a desert, but that doesn't mean that it never rains in Atacama.

Every so often a warming effect over the Pacific Ocean around the equator changes the weather the world over and even places like the driest desert in the world can become doused with drenching storms. Even though Atacama gets almost no rainfall, there is water in this arid place and you'll find it in the following places: Salt Lakes During years of heavy rainfall in the distant past, enough water accumulated in basins found throughout the Andes to create lakes. Some of the lakes got their water from melting glaciers at the end of the last ice age. But in some lakes in the Andes mountains, such as Atacama, more water is lost through evaporation than is replaced by rainfall so the lakes are drying up. As the water evaporates, the mineral salts in the water become more concentrated, creating very salty water. Snow In the higher elevations when precipitation comes to Atacama snow falls instead of rain. There are small patches of unmelted snow in the mountain tops where in never gets warm enough to melt the snow. Underground Anywhere you go in the world, regardless of how much or little it rains, there is always water underground.

After it rains, some of the rainwater evaporates back into the air, but much of it trickles down into the ground and stays there - even in the desert. How much water and where depends on a number of things; soil composition, air and soil surface temperature, amount and frequency of rainfall/precipitation, and drainage. Since the Andes is a volcanically active mountain range, the magma beneath the ground will heat the groundwater in certain places causing geysers to erupt. Fog and Dew This mummy of a girl is from the Atacama Desert. Her remains are estimated to be about 800 years old. Find out more about mummies. Most of the precipitation that comes to the Atacama is in the form of fog that blows in the from the Pacific. Fog is essentially very low clouds, consisting of water vapor cooling and beginning to condense. If you've ever been in fog you know that it can leave you a little moist. When the air temperature reaches dew point the water vapor in the air condenses to leave little droplets of water behind. The few things that are able to survive in the Atacama live on the combined moisture from fog and dew. Does Anything Live There?

Many people have the view that deserts are places forsaken by Mother Nature and that no living thing would possibly want to set up camp in a place so dry. Although it is tough to find anything living in the Atacama there are isolated pockets and small patches of plants, which support life for animals and insects. Some plant species have adapted well to this dry environment by developing tap roots that run very deep into the ground gathering water from below. There are flocks of flamingos that live in and around the salt lakes feeding on red algae that grows in the waters. There are even people living in the Atacama. There is a town called Calama in the desert which is complete with motels, restaurants and shops, but it is definitely not the norm. For the most part, Atacama is a pretty lonely place. Humans have lived in the Atacama for many thousands of years, based on the cultural relics and artifacts that archaeologists have found. The South American Indians who have set up housekeeping in the desert over the millennia have left relics from their culture and even themselves. Because the Atacama is so bone-dry the bodies of the buried indians have dried perfectly preserved turning them into mummies.

Some of the oldest mummies found anywhere on earth have come from the Atacama Desert and have been dated to be 9,000 years old! What Causes Deserts? One reason is that the high atmospheric pressure in this region over the Andes can cause dry, cold air from the upper altitudes to compress and come down to earth. This dry air has almost no water vapor so it can be easily heated by the sun, causing high ground temperatures with very low humidity. Another reason that the Atacama doesn't get enough rainfall is because of a phenomenon called rainshadow. The warm, moist tropical air that blows on the tradewinds from the east, which douse the South American rainforest, get hung-up on the east side of the Andes. The mountains are so high in altitude that the air cools, condenses and rains (or snows) on the mountains. As the air descends the other side of the mountain range it warms, holding in its moisture preventing rain from falling on to the ground below. This is one of the reasons why the Amazon basin and river are the largest anywhere in the world.

The mountains that cause the Amazon to be the largest river from collecting all the rainfall are also responsible for preventing the Atacama from ever receiving any rainfall. The driest and one of the wettest places in the world are right next to each other! Get Your Degree! North and the Atacama Desert | Chile Travel North and the Atacama Desert Valle de la Luna y Marte Area North and the Atacama Desert Under a sky with infinite stars lies the world’s driest desert waiting for the anticipated blooming. Plan your trip to Chile quickly and simply 1 Check the outstanding destinations in Chile and give them a "like" to add them to your suitcase. 2 Check your "likes" in the different areas on the map of Chile. If you want, you can set up a daily itinerary of your trip to Chile. 3 Tourism Directory North and the Atacama Desert Far from being a desolate, arid wilderness, the Atacama desert is overflowing with life. Its ancient cultures offer a warm welcome to modern travellers, and fertile oases sustain an astonishing diversity of life here in the world’s driest desert.

On the high Andean plateau, you’ll find small villages at up to 4,000 meters above sea level where timeless traditions linger in extreme and wonderfully photogenic settings. Visit San Pedro de Atacama and explore its singular landscapes, quite unlike anywhere else on earth. Vast salt flats, active geysers and intense blue lagoons are just a few of the extraordinary features of this region. Journey to the stars and learn more about the constellations in one of the many famed astronomical observatories in the northern half of Chile. If you’re a fan of water sports or simply enjoy soaking up the sun, don’t miss the northern coastal region, with its exquisite sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and exquisite seafood. The Atacama Desert, Chile: the Driest Desert on Earth - Five Reasons Why September 4, 2013 by Carmen Abuhadba & filed under Courses/Workshops , Desertification , Regional Water Cycle Atacama desert As a definition, a desert is a hot area of land that gets very little rain — not more than 200mm a year, where temperatures during the daytime can get as high as 55°C.

At night, deserts cool down, sometimes even below 0°C. Most deserts lie between 15° and 35° north and south of the equator. They were created by air that rises over the equator and comes down over the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. All over the world, around 20% of the deserts lie in these regions. How does this happen? Land over the equator becomes very hot because the sun’s rays hit the equator at a direct angle between 23°N and 23°S latitude. The hot and wet air rises and it rains a lot in these areas. The air cools down and moves north and southwards as it gets drier. The cool and dry air, sinks to the ground over the Tropic of Cancer in the north, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the south, causing high pressure (“sunny weather”) . And then again, warm air near the surface moves back to the equator causing the air to rise. These moving air masses are called trade winds. As the rising air cools, clouds and rain develop. The resulting bands of cloudy and rainy weather near the equator create tropical conditions.

But… what makes the Atacama Desert in Chile drier than other deserts? Well, the cold Humboldt Current, flowing northward along the Chilean coast, creates a strong inversion layer. The cold, humid air produced by the sea stays down along the coastline by the effect of the hot air masses of the continent, not just reducing the moisture in the air but also creating nearly 350 days of clear skies inland. Also, we have to consider that the Atacama Desert is located over high altitudes, above 2,500 metres above sea level. This fact contributes to low dryng temperatures and very low humidity in the air (about 10%). Inversion Layer Effect, caused by Humboldt cold current along the coast of Chile-North Another important reason is that the Andes Range runs along the Atacama Desert, acting as a formidable natural barrier from the moisture of the Amazon; the rain shadow effect. This is a dry region of land on the side of a mountain range that is protected from the prevailing winds; those that occur most of the time in a particular location on the Earth. These protected sides, are also called the leeward side or the down-wind side.

Prevailing winds carry air toward the mountain range. As the air rises, the air cools, water vapor condenses, and clouds form. On this side of the mountains, called the windward side, precipitation falls in the form of rain or snow. The windward side of a mountain range is moist and lush because of this precipitation. Once the air passes over the mountain range, it moves down the other side, warms, and dries out. This dry air produces a rain shadow. Land in a rain shadow is typically very dry and receives much less precipitation and cloud, creating desert conditions on the leeward side of the range cover. Nowhere else on Earth do these climatic features come together as they do in Atacama. Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course We are pleased to offer a full PDC between 23 November — 7 December, 2013, in this amazing and still pristine corner on earth. The PDC will be held at: Atacama Loft facilities at San Pedro de Atacama, Second Región of Chile. The course will be taught in both Spanish and English by PRI accredited teacher, Grifen Hope .

Find out more here: 4 thoughts on “The Atacama Desert, Chile: the Driest Desert on Earth – Five Reasons Why” Ty Thompson says: National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com By Priit J. Vesilind Photographs by Joel Sartore Dust flies as shepherds herd goats above an irrigated valley near the Atacama Desert, a 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) stretch of northern Chile squeezed between the Pacific and the Andes. Irrigation soaks up about 15 percent of available water in the Atacama, known as the driest place on Earth. In some spots, rainfall has never been recorded. The child sits upright, knees bent, wearing woolen garments and a black, four-pointed, finely woven hat topped with a small feather. Alongside lie a basket of small corncobs, a knotted string bag, and a grub hoe carved from a llama jawbone. Brown braided hair peeks out from behind a metal mask that was meant to ward off evil spirits in the afterlife.

Before archaeologists discovered this tiny corpse in 1985, the Atacama Desert sun had baked its exposed tomb for more than 500 years. The mummy—one of several hundred that have been discovered along the Chilean coast—is part of a culture squeezed between the Pacific and the Andes that once scratched out life in a land where life simply shouldn't exist. Stretching 600 miles (966 kilometers) from Peru's southern border into northern Chile, the Atacama Desert rises from a thin coastal shelf to the pampas—virtually lifeless plains that dip down to river gorges layered with mineral sediments from the Andes. The pampas bevel up to the altiplano, the foothills of the Andes, where alluvial salt pans give way to lofty white-capped volcanoes that march along the continental divide, reaching 20,000 feet (6,096 meters). At its center, a place climatologists call absolute desert, the Atacama is known as the driest place on Earth. There are sterile, intimidating stretches where rain has never been recorded, at least as long as humans have measured it.

You won't see a blade of grass or cactus stump, not a lizard, not a gnat. But you will see the remains of most everything left behind. The desert may be a heartless killer, but it's a sympathetic conservator. Without moisture, nothing rots. Everything turns into artifacts. Even little children. It is a shock then to learn that more than a million people live in the Atacama today. They crowd into coastal cities, mining compounds, fishing villages, and oasis towns. International teams of astronomers—perched in observatories on the Atacama's coastal range—probe the cosmos through perfectly clear skies. Determined farmers in the far north grow olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers with drip-irrigation systems, culling scarce water from aquifers. In the altiplano, the descendants of the region's pre-Columbian natives (mostly Aymara and Atacama Indians) herd llamas and alpacas and grow crops with water from snowmelt streams. To the far south, in the Chilean capital of Santiago, urbanites still consider the desert a wasteland, impervious to environmental damage.

Rumors persist that in the mid-1980s the government proposed creating a dumpsite for the world's nuclear wastes in the Atacama, but backtracked to avoid a public relations disaster. "There's a prejudice and lack of knowledge about the desert," complains Patricio Fischer, a biology teacher in Iquique, one of the northern cities. "People see the Atacama as a blank spot on the map." That blank spot on the map—roughly covering the Chilean regions of El Norte Chico and El Norte Grande, or Little North and Big North—has been the unlikely engine of much of the nation's wealth for the past century, luring legions of ambitious workers to the area during a series of economic booms. Newcomers began to arrive in the late 1800s, when nitrates were first exploited in the Atacama Desert. By the 1930s artificial nitrates had been developed, and the Chilean nitrate industry soon collapsed. Today copper, silver, gold, and iron mining drive the economy. More recently the Atacama has become a popular destination for European ecotourists and Santiago's adventuresome elite, triggering yet another economic rush.

In the Atacama's three largest coastal cities—Arica, Iquique, and Antofagasta—there are fancy shopping centers with bowling alleys and movie theaters. A glitzy beach scene materializes every summer in Arica, when hordes of vacationers arrive from landlocked Bolivia. Many come lugging golf clubs, intent on playing at one of three courses in the Atacama. Entrepreneurs have laid out fairways and greens in the sand: There's no grass, and swaths of blue paint on the rocks demark "water hazards." Meanwhile, competing natural gas companies are bringing power to the Atacama's copper mines and sprouting cities. Pipelines draw fresh water from the Andes to the coast. A new highway, the Paso de Jama, now spans the mountains to connect Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay to the desert ports, which ship copper and other minerals to a growing Asian market. With so much unchecked growth—urban expansion, modernization, the influx of new industry, and a burgeoning tourist trade—might there be a lasting, detrimental effect on a place many believe is infinitely resilient? Will the desert shrug off man's incursions, no worse for wear?

To find out, I crisscross the Atacama for four weeks with Sergio Ballivian, my guide and translator, a Bolivian-born adventurer who relishes the Atacama's ruggedness. In a four-wheel-drive SUV we motor north to south from Arica to Vallenar, from the boisterous surf to the silence of the pampas, through the thin winds of the Andes, through a science fiction landscape. I want to learn how life survives, even thrives, where it should not. Desert Biome - Animal Facts and Information Desert Biome Posted by BioExpedition | Apr 3, 2012 | Biomes | Desert Biome Facts Desert Biome Description The desert biome is one that is very hot and dry. They are found at the lower latitudes, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Light winds occur often which evaporates any type of moisture that is typically going to develop in them. The heat is very dry and that makes it hard for too many types of plants or animals to be able to survive in such biomes. Approximately 20% of the Earth falls into this category.

Some of the desert biomes are extremely large. For example the Sahara desert in Africa is more than 3.5 million square miles in size. Others are extremely dry. For example the Atacama desert in Chile is a place that gets about ½ an inch of precipitation annually. It never rains there – the precipitation comes from the fog. Climate Snakes, lizards, tarantulas, dingo, porcupines, coyotes. Location North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. The desert biome has two extremes that make it difficult to survive. First, it is extremely hot and second, it is extremely dry. Most people don’t realize though that it can be come cold as the sun goes down in the desert. This is because there are very few trees or other elements there to retain any heat. The changes in the temperatures can be very harsh for a human which is why it can be so dangerous to be exploring in the desert on your own. One of the famous desert biomes out there is called Death Valley. It is located in the Mojave Desert which is in the United States. It spans through three states – Arizona, Nevada, and California.

It is 25,000 square miles of sand as far as the eyes can see. That says it all when most people consider what this particular area is going to be like. Many desert biomes can go several years at a time without any rainfall at all. It will depend though on the exact location as there is quite a bit of difference when you consider the conditions on these environments. Desert Biome Characteristics A desert biome is one that receives less than 10 inches of annual precipitation. What some people don’t realize is that a desert can be extremely hot during the day but then very cool at night. The extreme changes in temperature from day to night can make it very hard for living things to successfully thrive in such an environment. Many desert biomes are formed in areas not too far from mountain locations. Scientists believe that this is the result of a rain shadow. The process involves air moving up and over the mountain range. As it moves though it gets cooler which means it is harder for it to retain any moisture. That is when it will rain or even snow if the temperatures are cool enough. However, the opposite is going to occur as the air is moving down the other side of the mountain.

It is going to get warmer as it moves downward. This warm air though is going to hold on to the moisture in it. When you are talking about temperatures that easily exceed 100 degrees in many desert biomes, that is why it hardly ever is going to rain in these locations. Desert Biome Facts and Information Desert Biome Fauna There is very limited types of plant and animal life that are able to live in the desert biome. Those that do live in the desert biome have learned to adapt to the temperatures. They have also learned to survive with very little water and very little food. The majority of the animals living in the desert biome are nocturnal. This means they sleep during the heat of the day and they are active at night when the sun goes down. Desert animals don’t need to feed very often which is why almost all of them are very small. They also don’t need to find water independently. They get the water they need from their sources of food. Ants are quite plentiful in the desert biome. They create underground tunnels where they are able to stay out of the heat. A variety of rodents including mice and the shrew live in these conditions as well.

The desert biome is also where you will find the tarantula. These spiders are very dangerous and they don’t seem to mind the harsh conditions either. Medium sized animals found living in the desert biome include rabbits, rattlesnakes, and porcupines . Of course there are larger animals in the desert biome as they are able to feed on the small ones. Don’t be surprised if you find the puma, bobcat or dingo around. In various areas of the desert biome there are deer living there that they will find upon. In certain desert locations you will also find camels. One of the living creatures in the desert biome that thrives with these harsh conditions is the Gila Monster. It is a very aggressive type of retile. It feeds on eggs and on small mammals. This creature needs the heat for its body to stay regulated. It can be active both during the day and the night. They are very dangerous to humans due to the toxic venom that is produced when they bite. httpv://youtu.be/A-Lu3utDXH4 Desert Biome Flora In order for any plants to survive in the desert biome, they have to be able to collect and store what water is present.

They also have to be able to reduce the water evaporating from them. The cactus is the number one plant you will find living in a desert biome. The design of this plant makes it possible for them to hold onto the moisture they have. The hard leaves make it possible for them to handle the extreme changes in temperature from day to night that occur in a desert biome. The cactus also has a hairy texture that helps the plants to reflect the heat from the sun. This is why they are able to withstand that high level of heat without suffering. In the Canary Islands you will find the Dragon Tree living. That is the only desert biome where it grows. It has a long truck and then wide leaves that are very hard. It can create a sap that is very dark red in color. The aloe plant is also found in the desert biome. Aloe has always been a very important type of natural healing medicine. It helps to soothe burns and to promote healing. Global Warming The future for the desert biome is one that many worry about. Issues including global warming continue to cause changes to the natural pattern of weather behaviors. The desert is already extremely dry and hot.

Should those temperatures continue to increase then there could be problems for the plants and animals that live there. When you combine that with the possibility of additional heat is going to reduce the already low amount of rainfall, it could spell out disaster. These plants and animals are already surviving with so little. It would be next to impossible for them to be able to continue to thrive in such an environment with even less. There are all ready projections that claim the diversity of plants and animals in the desert biome will decrease by at least 15% over the next 50 years. Deserts of the world / Photo courtesy: NASA Deserts of the world / Photo courtesy: NASA Deserts of the world / Photo courtesy: NASA Desert Biome Related Information KDE Santa Barbara Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts. Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, while the Sahara in Africa is the largest of the hot deserts.

There are also deserts close to Santa Barbara, such as the Mojave the Colorado Desert which encompass parts of Southern California. In North America, there are four major hot, dry deserts, including the Mojave and the Great Basin. Outside the U.S. hot, dry deserts are found in the Southern Asian realm, South and Central America, Ethiopia and Australia. Another type of desert is the coastal desert, for example, the Atacama Desert in Chile of South America. And then there are cold deserts. That sounds pretty silly! If deserts are supposed to be hot, how can there possibly be a cold desert? Well these deserts are in places like Antarctica and Greenland where vegetation is sparce, just like the more commonly known hot, dry deserts. WEATHER: Weather is not the same in all deserts. The seasons in hot and dry deserts are usually very hot during the summer and warm during the rest of the year. During winter these deserts get little rainfall. Rain is often light, or in short concentrated bursts. Most of the time evaporation rates are faster than rainfall rates. Sometimes the rain evaporates before even hitting the ground. This is the reason for the dry characteristic of this type of desert.

Coastal deserts are in moderately cool to warm areas. Coastal deserts usually have cool winters followed by fairly long, warm summers. The temperature in the winters is generally 41°F (5&degC) or below. In the summer the weather heats up to between 55ï¿½ and 75°F (12 and 24&degC). Average rainfall is usually 3 - 5 inches (8 - 13 cm). The Atacama is the Earth's driest desert. In the Atacama 1 millimeter or more of rain falls every 5-20 years. Cold deserts have short, moist and moderately warm summers, and long cold winters like one could expect in Antarctica. The winter temperature ranges from -5°F to -110°F (-20.5 to -79&degC), and in the summer it can be a nice, balmy, 32°F (0&degC). The coldest day recorded in Antarctica was -113°F (-80.5&degC)! PLANTS: Deserts plants have many adaptations to survive in such a dry environment. They are good at storing and finding water.

Some plants have seeds that can stay dormant in the sand for a long time, until there is enough rain for them to grow. In hot deserts, you'll often find Cacti. Cacti are great at storing water. With their waxy coating, water can't escape and their spines protect them from being desert dinner. Their roots are shallow, and widely spread so that any rain can be absorbed immediately! Some other plants you might find in the hot desert are creosote bush, sagebrush, and ocotillo. Coastal deserts house a variety of plants. These plants must adapt to minimal rainfall by having extensive root systems that come up to the surface to absorb any possible rainfall, and go far down to absorb any water saturated in the ground. These plants also have very thick leaves that can absorb and store water whenever it is available. The plants that live in coastal deserts include salt bush, rice grass, black sage and chrysothamnus. Plants can even live in cold deserts, but you won't find as many here as in other types of deserts. Plants in cold deserts include algae, grasses, and plants with spiny thin leaves.

Usually these plants grow only in the summer. ANIMALS: Deserts are a very important biome. No, not because of all the sand! Mostly because of all the plants and animals that call the desert "home". Some animals that live in the hot desert are cold-blooded, like snakes, insects, and lizards. Mammals that live in the desert are usually small, such as the kangaroo rat and kit fox. Sometimes it's hard to survive in the desert. Some mice build their home out of fallen cactus spines to protect themselves from predators like coyotes and hawks. In the Eritrean coastal desert in Djibouti, Africa, animals like gazelles, skinks, geckos and dikdiks roam the desert. Fewer animals live in the cold desert. In Antarctica, most of the animals live near the ocean shore. Because of their ice home, seals, penguins, and other birds rely on fish, squid and other sea creatures for their food. PEOPLE AND THE DESERT: People have a variety of uses for deserts. The desert is popular for tourism and recreation. Often people visit to see the beautiful sand colors and rock formations.

Many people enjoy visiting the desert because it is a quiet place to get away from the business and noise of cities and spend time in the open land. The desert offers many types of recreation, for example, rock climbing, hiking and dirt biking. Mining, grazing, road building, and utility projects take place in the desert. Because of desert sensitivity, it is important that desert uses be managed properly to protect the wildlife and habitat. LINKS: Atacama Desert - Geographic Overview Atacama Desert Geography Expert By Matt Rosenberg The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is the world's second driest region (icy Antarctica is first). Although the Tropic of Capricorn passes through the region, the Atacama desert lies in the rain shadow of Chile's Coast Range, which squeezes out the moisture from the atmosphere. The desert is completely barren and while most areas only receive moisture from an occasional fog or a shower every few decades, the rain gauge at Calama has never recorded any measurable precipitation. The Atacama is a high (most elevations are over 8000 feet) and cold desert, average temperatures range from 0° to 25° Celsius (32° to 75° F).

Chile's leading export of the nineteenth century was nitrate which came from mines in the Atacama Desert. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, when synthetic nitrates began to be produced, the Atacama Desert became responsible for Chile's current leading export, copper. Copper is mined in the eastern portion of the country, lying near the Argentina border. continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance Population in the Atacama Desert is severely limited. Settlements are limited to oases and mining towns. Water was once shipped to mining towns via mules and barrels but now arrives via aqueduct. Flora and fauna are sparse in this driest of dry regions that serves to provide its country with valuable mineral resources. Mineral Resources in Deserts Some mineral deposits are formed, improved, or preserved by geologic processes that occur in arid lands as a consequence of climate. Ground water leaches ore minerals and redeposits them in zones near the water table. This leaching process concentrates these minerals as ore that can be mined. Of the 15 major types of mineral deposits in the Western Hemisphere formed by action of ground water, 13 occur in deserts.

Nitrate workings in a broad valley in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, where saline-cemented surficial deposits formed near a playa lake (photograph by George Ericksen). Evaporation in arid lands enriches mineral accumulation in their lakes. Playas may be sources of mineral deposits formed by evaporation. Water evaporating in closed basins precipitates minerals such as gypsum, salts (including sodium nitrate and sodium chloride), and borates. The minerals formed in these evaporite deposits depend on the composition and temperature of the saline waters at the time of deposition. Significant evaporite resources occur in the Great Basin Desert of the United States, mineral deposits made forever famous by the "20-mule teams" that once hauled borax-laden wagons from Death Valley to the railroad. Boron, from borax and borate evaporites, is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, enamel, agricultural chemicals, water softeners, and pharmaceuticals. Borates are mined from evaporite deposits at Searles Lake, California, and other desert locations. The total value of chemicals that have been produced from Searles Lake substantially exceeds $1 billion.

The Atacama Desert of South America is unique among the deserts of the world in its great abundance of saline minerals. Sodium nitrate has been mined for explosives and fertilizer in the Atacama since the middle of the 19th century. Nearly 3 million metric tons were mined during World War I. Valuable minerals located in arid lands include copper in the United States, Chile, Peru, and Iran; iron and lead-zinc ore in Australia; chromite in Turkey; and gold, silver, and uranium deposits in Australia and the United States. Nonmetallic mineral resources and rocks such as beryllium, mica, lithium, clays, pumice, and scoria also occur in arid regions. Sodium carbonate, sulfate, borate, nitrate, lithium, bromine, iodine, calcium, and strontium compounds come from sediments and near-surface brines formed by evaporation of inland bodies of water, often during geologically recent times. This open-pit mine in the Sonoran Desert near Ajo, Arizona, has exposed an elliptical copper deposit about 1,000 meters long and 750 meters wide.

The copper ore mined here is in a bed that averages 150 meters in thickness (photograph by Peter Kresan). The Green River Formation of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah contains alluvial fan deposits and playa evaporites created in a huge lake whose level fluctuated for millions of years. Economically significant deposits of trona, a major source of sodium compounds, and thick layers of oil shale were created in the arid environment. Trona mine at Searles Lake, California (photograph by John Keith). Some of the more productive petroleum areas on Earth are found in arid and semiarid regions of Africa and the Mideast, although the oil reservoirs were originally formed in shallow marine environments. Recent climate change has placed these reservoirs in an arid environment. Other oil reservoirs, however, are presumed to be eolian in origin and are presently found in humid environments. The Rotliegendes, a hydrocarbon reservoir in the North Sea, is associated with extensive evaporite deposits. Many of the major U.S. hydrocarbon resources may come from eolian sands. Ancient alluvial fan sequences may also be hydrocarbon reservoirs. This page is <

Question: Where would you find the Atacama Desert?
Answer: Chile